Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of Jewish culture. Here, you’ll learn about the latest (and sometimes earliest) in Jewish art, music, film, theater, books as well as the secret Jewish history of everything and everyone from The Rolling Stones to…
Culture
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Film & TV 8 young Jewish comedians on what ‘SNL 50’ means to them
'Saturday Night Live' may be entering middle age, but these rising Jewish comics are just getting started.
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That Time I Was Mistaken For Son Of Sam
Back in 1977, New York City was gripped by a fear unlike any other I have witnessed, except, of course, during the aftermath of 9/11. It was a reign of terror that saw six people murdered and seven others wounded. Most of those who were attacked were young women. The conventional wisdom was that the…
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Music When Shostakovich Wrote ‘From Jewish Folk Poetry’ And Pissed Off Stalin
The 20th-century Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich might be best known for his conflicted but patriotic symphonies, his daring operas, including two takes on Nikolai Leskov’s novella “Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District,” or the extent to which, decades after his death on this day in 1975, no one can say authoritatively whether his music was…
The Latest
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The Secret Jewish History of Barbara Cook
Barbara Cook, the Broadway diva who died on August 8 at age 89, is best remembered for starring in the musicals “Plain and Fancy” (1955), “Candide,” (1956) and “The Music Man” (1957). The long years of cabaret singing that followed may have obscured how much Yiddishkeit was involved in the achievement of this doughty performer….
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Meet The 25-Year-Old Israeli Scientist Who Created Women In Translation Month
August is Women in Translation Month, which aims to bring attention to a depressing and little-known literary fact: women writers are translated far less often than male writers. This means many women writers have almost no chance of being heard outside their home country — and in practical terms, remaining untranslated means a diminished chance…
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What Became of Europe’s Nazi-Looted Libraries?
The rhombicuboctahedronal National Library of Belarus sits on the northwest edge of Minsk, elevated above the surrounding landscape like a Brutalist disco ball. Few passersby would suspect that it’s home to some of the finest Jewish libraries of pre-war Paris, housing thousands of rare volumes that once inhabited the elegant studies and drawing rooms of…
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How Does Robert Pinsky Pen A Protest Poem?
Former Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky’s poem “Exile and Lightning” made an impact when he read it at a PEN America Writers Resist event in January. In front of a crowd that included cultural figures like Masha Gessen, Art Spiegelman, and Amy Goodman, Pinsky issued a striking reflection on the contemporary urgency of historic thought. “Now,…
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Art Times Review of Mossad-Organized Eichmann Exhibit Sparks Right-Wing Backlash
Art critics are used to having the last word on things, so New York Times writer Jason Farago must have been surprised when his review of “Operation Finale,” an exhibition on the capture and trial of SS leader Adolf Eichmann at New York’s Museum of Jewish Heritage, earned him the severe ire of the Algemeiner’s…
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Can You Sing A Novel To The Tune Of ‘Fiddler On The Roof’?
After Anatevka: A Novel Inspired by “Fiddler on the Roof” By Alexandra Silber Pegasus Books, 336 pages, $25.95 “Fiddler on the Roof” ends with the dairyman Tevye and most of his family evicted from their shtetl of Anatevka and heading to new lives in America. In their musical adaptation of Sholem Aleichem’s Yiddish-language tales, Joseph…
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Dating As A Single, Orthodox Filmmaker Isn’t Easy
People often ask if I’m running out of story ideas for my web series “Soon By You”, which centers on Orthodox Jews dating in New York. I laugh. And then I cry. I have stories for days. It’s an interesting experiment, dating your target demographic. As much as I take bits and pieces from my…
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Might There Be A Cure For Genetic Trauma?
Is it possible for a pregnant woman under great stress to pass on that trauma to her fetus through a biological mechanism that alters her genes? And could those deleterious effects be reversed by diet? An emerging body of research has shown that survivors of the Holocaust transmit trauma to the next generation not only…
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Art How Jewish Athletes Defied Stereotypes Throughout History
Never Walk Alone: Jewish Identities in Sport At the Munich Jewish Museum Through January 7, 2018 The 1936 Berlin Olympics showcased the Nazi love of spectacle and buttressed the regime’s international legitimacy. To avert boycott threats, the government temporarily muted overt manifestations of its anti-Semitic policies, removing discriminatory signage and toning down newspaper rhetoric. But…
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Culture Hitler is trending on TikTok again — and they’re trying to make him seem like a nice guy
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Fast Forward Sitcom star encourages non-Jews like her to hang mezuzahs on their homes
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Looking Forward An Israeli hip-hop artist remembers a day of hope in Gaza
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Looking Forward Why won’t Kamala Harris talk about her brisket?
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